Nightmare✔️ | Son Youngjae

06

i hear your footsteps
thumping loudly through the hallways
i can hear your sharp breaths
you're not very good at hiding

3RD PERSON

hair a complete mess, face tear-stained and body ached worse than when she was at eric's. daeun stared blankly at the wooden floor. her arms and legs felt numb and her eyes were red from insufficient sleep and excessive crying. the apartment was dark and she had no clue how much time had passed. the wooden floor creaked outside the door creaked loudly and her eyes widened as her breathing quickened. is q back to torture her once more? probably hours ago, he had traced a sharp knife along her jawline, creating a thin red line as he trailed down to her neckline. daeun shivered at the memory, recalling how he chuckled darkly.

"blood - yours is sweet," q had said as he took a sniff, smiling down at the bleeding girl.

focusing on the creaking floor as someone took steps nearing her door, daeun held her breath. the person took hold of the door knob, twisting it dreadfully slow and light shone into the room. daeun recognised the figure almost immediately - son youngjae. for once, she nearly heaved a sigh of relief when it was not the villain who had taken her. "you're not very good at running away - even changmin found you," he growled and in an instance daeun knew it was eric and not youngjae. daeun had expected to experience more pain from eric but he made no such violent moves. instead, eric had crouched down in front of her, his hands busied themselves as they took the rope apart and he peeled off the duct tape ever so gently. his eyes and fingers trailed the dried up red trail on her jaw. "how dare that bastard touch you,"he gritted his teeth. daeun, feeling too weak to even stand, allowed eric to lift her up onto his shoulders. an arm secured tightly around her waist to prevent her from slipping off as he stepped out of the room.

"eric," her voice came out as a whisper. he glanced at her slightly.

"what happened to changmin?" she asked carefully.

"ran away. now that he dared to hurt you, i won't let him go - alive," eric muttered, before putting her in the passenger seat. he drove off without saying a word.

-

the roads were dark and daeun figured that she had been there for a few hours. it took eric a few hours to find her. how did he even find her? "i put a trace device in your bag," eric mumbled as he gripped onto the steering wheel, eyes never leaving the empty dark road. daeun faced him, 'offended' written all over her face. "don't you dare talk about trust - you ran away," she could see his glare through the mirror.

they arrived home. daeun was not sure if she could even call eric's house her home - most of the memories were unpleasant. she anticipated to be tortured for running away and betraying him when she stepped into the house. instead, eric tossed a clean towel to her. "wash up and come down afterwards," he said before walking away to the kitchen. that was when she noticed how exhausted he looked - she could tell from the way he walked, how his back was slouched and the bags under his tired-looking eyes.

-

1 am - 1 hour after daeun ran away

youngjae groaned out of frustration, his fingers tangled up in his hair. the thought of her going behind his back to run away had never once slipped into his mind until it had happened then. hurriedly, he tracked the device he had cautiously put into her bag. youngjae had convinced himself that he would never have to track her and that night, daeun proved him wrong. with furrowed eyebrows, he carefully observed where daeun was headed to.

"huh? changmin's apartment?" he frowned. did changmin take her away? he was doing this again?

"hello?" the voice on the other side said. "oh hey hyunjae, cancel tonight's meeting. i've got an emergency," youngjae spoke through his phone. "we can't, get your ass here right now," hyunjae demanded. youngjae let out a frustrated sigh.

that early morning, youngjae could not sit still in the meeting. the distance from his location to his house was at least 2 hours away. his eyes shifted from the meeting and to his phone where daeun's location was stated. it remained unchanged - still ji changmin's apartment. the same apartment he had unintentionally seen changmin stab his own soulmate. youngjae was in a hurry, every other minute he would eagerly ask if the meeting was coming to an end or if he could leave early. the same answer applied to every question he had, "no".

the ticking of the wall clock got louder as every second passed. youngjae fidgeted around in his seat, attempting to stay calm as he breathed heavily. making up his mind, youngjae stood up from his seat charging towards the person leading the meeting, lee hyunjae. pulling harshly on hyunjae's collar, youngjae stared him down. "listen up hyunjae, i dont care what plan you're coming up with right now. my girl is missing and i will kill you if you don't let me go this instance," the others in the room froze at youngjae's words. youngjae took the silence in the room as a sign to move, so he gathered his stuffs and slammed the door open before rushing out.

he had reached the cursed apartment at 6am. it was dark and empty from the outside. the gate was unlocked, allowing youngjae to slip into the apartment. in the dark living room, he could make out the slim figure of ji changmin sitting on the couch. "nice of you to visit me, eric," he smirked. "q.." youngjae trailed off. "you're doing this again?" youngjae could feel himself getting angrier as he took steps forward. q was unfazed at his intense glare, making youngjae beyond mad. "q, you do not want to fight me. where is she?!" holding q down, eric gripped harshly onto q's forearms. q chuckled darkly at the lad,"oh eric, you're finally here. she's probably dead. i don't know - maybe in one of those rooms," q shrugged.

as soon as eric set off in a hurry to find daeun, q had fled the place, leaving no trace behind.